White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Monday that U.S. forces were prepared to take Osama bin Laden alive from the suburban compound in Pakistan, but the opportunity to do so was considered “remote.”

The Al Qaeda leader took his wife as a human shield during the firefight in Abbottabad, Brennan told reporters at a White House briefing.

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W.H. offers new details on bin Laden's death

POLITICO 44

“Here is bin Laden, who has been calling for attacks, living in a million-dollar-plus compound, hiding behind women put in front of him for a shield,” Brennan said. “It just proves how false the narrative has been for years.”

He said that “speaks to, I think, the nature of the individual he was.”

But at a Monday evening background, off-camera briefing for TV reporters, a senior official corrected what Brennan described earlier as “my understanding” that a woman who acted as a shield for bin Laden was one of his wives and was killed.

“A different guy’s wife was killed,” a different official familiar with the briefing for TV reporters said Monday night. Bin Laden’s wife was “injured but not killed,” the official said.

Another official familiar with the operation said it did not appear that any woman was used as a human shield, but that the woman killed and the one injured were hurt in the crossfire. The official said he believed Brennan had mixed up the episode involving bin Laden’s wife with another encounter elsewhere in the compound.

“Two women were shot here. It sounds like their fates were mixed up,” said the U.S. official. “This is hours old and the full facts are still being ascertained as those involved are debriefed.”

Brennan spoke to reporters for almost an hour, providing additional details about the mission Sunday that resulted in the capture and death of bin Laden almost 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Brennan, who said he has been following bin Laden for 15 years, struck a tone that was at times triumphant.

He called Obama’s decision to approve the mission one of the “gutsiest calls” in recent history at the White House, given the risky nature of the operation.

Asked to characterize the mood in the room when bin Laden was killed, Brennan said, “We got him.”

Brennan said the administration hasn’t decided whether to release photographic evidence that bin Laden is dead. One concern is that doing so could compromise other operations in the future, he said.

The White House consulted Islamic experts before burying bin Laden in the sea, Brennan said. Asked if an imam was at the burial, he said it was “done appropriately with the appropriate people there.”

At another briefing, a senior defense official said that traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed: “The deceased’s body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag, a military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased body eased into the sea.”

Brennan told reporters that U.S. officials are investigating the extent to which Pakistan was aware of bin Laden’s activities within the country.

But he added: “It is inconceivable that bin Laden didn’t have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time. I am not going to speculate about what type of support he might have had on an official basis inside Pakistan.”

Heck yes, it was!!! Anyone with 1/2 a brain knows it was. Excellent job Mr. President and all involved!!! Good thing Americans didn't actually believe the GOP rhetoric that they were the only ones who could keep America safe. It's never been about party!

He (Brennan) called Obama’s decision to approve the mission one of the “gutsiest calls” in recent history at the White House, given the risky nature of the operation.

I am no fan of The Puppet...but he finally did something right....but to call it the "gutsiest call" is ridiculous. Here is America's #1 enemy...we know where he is....IT IS A NO BRAINER...which may explain how The Puppet got it right. He is commander-in-chief and it is HIS JOB to make those decisions. Harry Truman made a gutsy call.....Pres. Puppet had no choice....and am thankful he made the decision.

I am no fan of The Puppet...but he finally did something right....but to call it the "gutsiest call" is ridiculous. Here is America's #1 enemy...we know where he is....IT IS A NO BRAINER...which may explain how The Puppet got it right. He is commander-in-chief and it is HIS JOB to make those decisions. Harry Truman made a gutsy call.....Pres. Puppet had no choice....and am thankful he made the decision

He could have been like president Bush when we had OBL in Torra Borra and let hin walk away. Now take your un American self and go away.

I am no fan of The Puppet...but he finally did something right....but to call it the "gutsiest call" is ridiculous. Here is America's #1 enemy...we know where he is....IT IS A NO BRAINER...which may explain how The Puppet got it right. He is commander-in-chief and it is HIS JOB to make those decisions. Harry Truman made a gutsy call.....Pres. Puppet had no choice....and am thankful he made the decision

He could have been like president Bush when we had OBL in Torra Borra and let hin walk away. Now take your un American self and go away.

They would have loved to have given him a civilian trial with an ACLU lawyer and a cell with color tv and a Qu'aran and mosque access and access to secret information we have in the war on terror, blah, blah, blah...sorry, mimicking far right fear mongerers is always fun, but especially so on a day like this.

I am no fan of The Puppet...but he finally did something right....but to call it the "gutsiest call" is ridiculous. Here is America's #1 enemy...we know where he is....IT IS A NO BRAINER...which may explain how The Puppet got it right.

Only in hindsight was this a no brainer, or perhaps it was a no brainer if your understanding of how these operations unfold comes from the movies. A million things could have gone wrong.

If the troops had been killed and / or bin Laden had escaped, you'd all be blaming Obama. If the raid resulted in non-combatants being killed, you'd all have blamed Obama. If the Pakistani Government forces would have attacked our troops as they came in, you would have blamed Obama.

We've had two years of wing nuts calling him a Muslim and questioning whether he's a real American. Not surprising you're all trying to belittle the accomplishment - it makes you all look as silly as you actually are.

Take him alive? Why; so the idiots at the DOJ could attempt to put him on trial in a federal court in New York or Washington after keeping him in Guantanimo for many years? What purpose of justice would have been served in that scenario other than giving a boost to Obama’s campaign for re-election? Perhaps Obama would have put Osama in a cage and carried him around the country on his campaign tours.

Justice was, indeed, served, and billions of U.S. taxpayers’ dollars were saved by executing this piece of human garbage at the scene. Every person on that expedition should receive the Distinguished Service Cross or the Navy Cross for his participation in this great and brave event.

However, justice will not be, completely, served until every member of Al Queda is either imprisoned or dead. Those who died on 9/11 deserve no less than total retribution.

Not that anyone cares, but John Brennan, according to Michael Scheuer--the "anonymous" author who wrote the first great expose of the Iraq adventure and a long time former CIA operative who was the #1 expert on OBL--is exactly what's wrong with D.C.

A bumbling bureaucrat who's only goal is to maintain a D.C. address at all costs. IOW, he's perfect for the Obama administration, a bloodless career bureaucrat who says all the right things but does absolutely nothing.